Virginia Senate Bill 447 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: Engrossed on January 21 2016 - 50% progression, died in committee
Action: 2016-03-07 - Continued to 2017 in Appropriations by voice vote
Pending: House Appropriations Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Prefiled) [HTML]

Office of the Attorney General; employment of special counsel. Provides that when entering into a contract with special counsel, the Office of the Governor or Office of the Attorney General, as applicable, must make a copy of the contract available to the public on the website of the Governor or the Attorney General. However, the Attorney General may temporarily not disclose such information upon making a written determination that such action is necessary to protect attorney-client or otherwise privileged information or that immediate disclosure of the existence of special counsel, or any other sensitive information, could compromise the initiation, handling, or conclusion of any investigation or case matter handled by the Attorney General or special counsel and might put the Commonwealth and its citizens at a disadvantage. The bill also provides that prior to entering into a contract with special counsel, the Attorney General must make a written determination that the representation is both cost effective and in the public interest. In addition, the bill (i) requires the Governor and the Attorney General to submit an annual report to the General Assembly describing the use of contracts for special counsel; (ii) provides that the Attorney General, or counsel to the Governor in cases in which the Attorney General has a conflict, shall retain control over special counsel; and (iii) limits the contingency fee that may be charged by special counsel depending on the amount recovered.

Attorney General, Offices of; employment of special counsel.

Sen. Mark Obenshain [R]

Sen. John Cosgrove [R]

2016-03-02 - House - House: Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 7-N) (Y: 16 N: 7 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2016-02-22 - House - House: Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 2-N) (Y: 7 N: 2 NV: 1 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2016-01-26 - Senate - Senate: Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 18-N 1-A) (Y: 21 N: 18 NV: 0 Abs: 1) [PASS]
2016-01-20 - Senate - Senate: Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) (Y: 39 N: 0 NV: 1 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2016-01-18 - Senate - Senate: Reported from General Laws and Technology (9-Y 6-N) (Y: 9 N: 6 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]

Date	Chamber	Action
2016-03-07	House	Continued to 2017 in Appropriations by voice vote
2016-03-03	House	Assigned App. sub: General Government & Capital Outlay
2016-03-02	House	Referred to Committee on Appropriations
2016-03-02	House	Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 7-N)
2016-02-22	House	Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 2-N)
2016-02-16	House	Assigned Courts sub: Civil Law
2016-02-03	House	Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
2016-02-03	House	Read first time
2016-02-03	House	Placed on Calendar
2016-01-26	Senate	Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 18-N 1-A)
2016-01-25	Senate	Passed by for the day
2016-01-21	Senate	Read second time and engrossed
2016-01-20	Senate	Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
2016-01-18	Senate	Reported from General Laws and Technology (9-Y 6-N)
2016-01-12	Senate	Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology
2016-01-12	Senate	Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/16 16101750D

Chapter	Article	Section	Citation Type	Statute Text
2	2	507	(n/a)	See Bill Text
2	2	510	(n/a)	See Bill Text
2	2	510.1	(n/a)	See Bill Text
2	2	510.3	(n/a)	See Bill Text

Type	Source
Summary	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+sum+SB447
Text	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+ful+SB447+hil
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+vot+S12V0014+SB0447
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+vot+SV0035SB0447+SB0447
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+vot+SV0079SB0447+SB0447
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+vot+H0802V0091+SB0447
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+vot+H08V0418+SB0447